Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Hilary, Jackson, Marsha, and John Rich plus Ben Haydock joined Rob Bradlee for the first Freeman Fitness test on Mt. Sunapee. The rain was pouring down on Rte 93, but when we got to the mountain the sun came out. (You never know unless you go). Ben's comment: "that was harder than any workout or race I've ever done". There were still patches of old manmade snow on the trails - I have photo of the team "on-snow" in May! This uphill run is a pure test of aerobic conditioning. We'll do more of these over the summer.

Yesterday was the 29th annual billygoat. The billygoat is an orienteering race that is a little unique--you can follow people (in fact, following is "explicitly permitted"), and you can skip one control. Which can get you in trouble if you're following people and they skip a control and you don't notice, or variations on that theme. The other thing about the Billygoat is that if you finish in under 3.5 hours, you get a t-shirt. Its a pride thing too; its considered a DNF if you finish in after 3.5. So, Ed and I drove over from Vermont the night before, got our numbers, read the instructions, and headed to the start. Its a mass start, and basically, everybody just runs in the same direction as the people in front. Which would suck if the people in front went the wrong way. But, they went the right way, and we sort of all got to #1 in a big strung out pack. I decided that since this was the first running I had done on my shin (I had compartment surgery about a month ago) I was going to take it pretty easy, so I backed off to just run my own race. I was feeling relatively confident in my navigational skills, and it was sunny out, so I was in a relaxed sort of mood. I ended up running most of the course with adventure racer Tracy Olafson, I think of racingahead.com; she had a daughter ski at UNH, and we sort of know each other, so it was a pretty chatty race all in all. I was hitting each control spot on, and if for some reason I felt likeI wasn't going in the right direction, the woods were so muddy you could just look for the elephant trail where the lead group had gone through. Eventually we had it down to a group of four, with me doing most of the navigating. Around control #13, I took a better route over a cliff, and dropped that little group. I ended up putting about 10 minutes on Tracy and co., but I lost some time on the woman who had only been about 4 minutes ahead of us at the feed station. I ended up running controls 14-25 alone, just doing my own thing, and mostly navigating pretty well. My shin held out great, and I finished in 2:23, well under the 3.5hr cutoff. Ed finished soon after, in 2:35 or something. This was a considerably nicer course than the other two Billygoats that I've run--there were some long legs, and some slightly technical ones with no catching features if you overran it, but overall, it was a very runnable course. Plus, it was sunny. Did I mention that already? After all the rain we've been having, even if the woods were insanely muddy, the sun felt great. http://www.petergagarin.org/2007/20070520billygoat.jpg Here is the map, except for #20 which didn't fit apparently. Scanning credit to Peter Gagarin, an orienteer who posts his maps online. A muddy, but extremely fun, course! You should all consider doing this next year, because it is a great course for skiers! Fitness counts, and since you can follow people, you don't really need to know how to orienteer.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

My brother came to visit last weekend, on his way from Colgate to London to Rochester to Seattle to Los Angelos to Lima Peru. And you thought I travel a lot? He couldn't show up until saturday afternoon, and left monday morning at 6:30am, but he wanted to go hike in the Whites. So, we went up to Moosilauke Sunday, since none of us had ever climbed it and we heard it had a good view on top. Of course, there was a mtb race that I wanted to do AND an orienteering meet I wanted to go to, but its not every day that I can see Christophe. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made.Moosilauke is 4800 ft, which is pretty big for around here. I figured that meant that it would be a pretty challenging hike, and had minor qualms about my leg acting all funny after a couple hours of hiking. I also figured that it would take us longer than the suggsted 5.5 hrs, since none of us are really in shape, and I was guessing there would be snow. Christophe and Ed were convinced there would be no snow, and Christophe even wore shorts... Dummy :). We had about four feet of snow while in the woods once we'd gotten up to about 3000-3500 ft, and there was one long section of trail that had a river running under the snow. This meant that although I could walk on the snow without any problem, being the small person, the guys were breaking through occasionally, really slowing things down. After they had cursed at the snow enough, we got to someplace with some dry rocks to sit on and ate lunch #1. I thought we'd have a ton more climbing since so far the ascent had been really mellow. Practically flat. But no, that was it for climbing. We kind of rolled for a bit up a ridge to the top of Moosilauke, which was all open tundra with a stiff wind. Shot some pictures and then headed down, mostly just sliding on the snow. That actually takes a fair bit of concentration--I thought I was going to totally lose it and go slamming into the trees or rocks a couple times, but I held it together. The weather was pretty much the best hiking weather you could ask for, with the exception of the wind on the top. Great day to be climbing mountains! My shin held out great for the hike, so I'm feeling pretty positive about the Billygoat, which is next weekend. The Billygoat is an orienteering race that has to be completed in under 3.5 hrs to get your t-shirt. Its typically long, hard, hot, gnarly, and demanding both technically and physically. I think my first and only true bonk came at the Billygoat a few years ago, when I started with only a redbull and a brownie for sustenance. I don't recommend that one. I finished, but I finished in 3:34... after falling down a lot, bumping into trees, and having visions of oreos and apple juice floating before my eyes. As I said, I don't recommend that strategy. This year, I'll be eating a full breakfast and bringing food and water with me... normal actions, I guess, but sometimes the skier superiority complext gets the best of you. Now I'm going to go ride my pinarello in perfect weather :).Posted by Alex at 1:35 PM0 comments

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Several CSU skiiers took part in the Run of the Charles canoe and kayak races again this year. In the 24 mile relay the victorious Quinobequin Boat Club with Wes Denering (picture below) paddling legs 2 and 3 and Rob Bradlee and Jamie Doucett paddling leg 5 took home top honors once again this year, by 8 minutes. The Quinobequin Boat Club exists only for this race. We team up with several paddling friends and make it an international effort as several of the paddlers on the team are from Nova Scotia. This year we were short a couple people so Wes had to double up. However, once again we easily dispatched the competition. The water was very high and conditions were fast.

Other skiiers seen during or after the race include Mark Jacobson, who was 4th Master in the 19 mile Oympic class kayak race, Michael Melnikov (picture below) in the 19 mile recreational canoe race and Aims Coney in the 24 mile relay. Eric Shultz (4th) was down from the environs of Craftsbury racing the 9 mile kayak race. Eric took a swim at the broken dam in Waltham, a short white water stretch that caught some people off guard given the high water volume.This is a great event with races from 6 miles to the 27 mile pro canoe race and supports the very worthy causes of the Charles River Watershed Association. Think about putting together a team for next year!